The day the Rose Tyler-Noble should have died
by xXChocaholicXx
Summary: Rose Tyler has died before and has always come back stronger. But after over a hundred years of of a full and happy life lived, she's ready to take her next adventure into the afterlife. She just never expected it to end this way. A look into the day Rose Tyler-Noble died and what came after.
1. Chapter 1

Rose Marion Tyler-Noble died on a Monday, because Sunday would have been too boring a day to start her final journey. She died with a smile on her lips, surrounded by her three daughters and their spouses; her many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and the few great-great grandchildren having already said their goodbyes. She had lived to the ripe old age of 127, which, even with the technological and biological advancements in anti-aging and disease prevention, was way past the average life span of 114 that humans couldn't seem to advance past. However, Rose Tyler-Noble had the advantage of having an extremely active life, access to cutting edge experimental research, and remnants of the time-vortex embedded in her very genome. Now this last factor in all probability should have been detrimental to her well-being, but after 100 years of watching and waiting for something to happen, it seemed that the only side effects were positive: she healed faster than a normal human, had slightly enhanced telepathic and empathetic abilities, a keener sense of time, and a slightly slower aging process. However, when her husband of 102 years passed away only about a month or so earlier (on a Saturday, much to his pleasure), she felt that it was her time to move on as well, and her body reacted accordingly.

Doctor Jonathan "the Doctor, John, and/or the Oncoming Babble" Noble was more of biological marvel than even his wife. No one quite knew his real age, which was further complicated by the fact that he quite literally sprouted as a fully-grown adult. He shared many of the traits that the time vortex had given his wife: the telepathy, accelerated healing and decelerated aging, and although he _technically_ had an even better sense of time than she, he was perpetually late. His peculiar biology was due to a third strand of DNA and the fact that he was half Gallifrayen, an ancient alien species that no longer existed and had never existed in this particular universe. John, unlike a full Time Lord, had only one heart and this led to many deviations from what could be expected in his lifetime. He had no respiratory bypass (much to his chagrin) and though his lifespan was elongated slightly, it was nowhere near the thousands of years it could have been. However, this suited him just fine. He had once made an offer on a beach, ("I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you. If you want.") and this was the way he could fulfill his vows. So he settled into being human, but he never settled down. This suited his wife just fine, she was never one for domestics anyways.

The births of three baby girls over a decade and a half helped to quell some of the need for adventure, especially because they seemed to have inherited their fathers talent for getting in trouble and were as jeopardy friendly as their mother. Donna Susan Noble, the eldest, had once broken her leg after falling while attempting to jump from one tree branch to another and had driven her mother crazy when she and her father had "improved" her wheelchair so it now functioned as a hovercraft. Sarah Jane Noble, who was never _just_ a middle child, had once nearly burnt down the school when a particularly enthusiastic science experiment went wrong after she got distracted (a habit she picked up from her father) and mixed the wrong chemical solution. Martha Andrea Noble, the baby of the family, was a bit quieter, but as a child had a habit of protecting others against bullies that left her with more than a few bruises over the years. These childhood passions, as they often do, evolved into more career like pursuits as they aged. Donna had taken the mantel of Torchwood field operative and had risen to the rank of director as her mother and grandfather had done before her. Like her mother and grandfather, she always managed to be out in the field for the _saving the world_ events, never content to be behind a desk for too long. Sarah had put her love of the stars and natural curiosity to good use as an astrological researcher and mechanical engineer, discovering ways to view more of the universe from good old Sol 3. Martha had gone on to work for the United Nations, heading the committee that was charged with extra-terrestrial relations and creating global policies for negotiations with alien cultures. All three women wore their hair as their natural brunette, even while their mother had kept her hair dyed blonde until it had stubbornly faded to white. Donna was stick-thin like the Doctor, Sarah had his height, and Martha was nice mix of the two but had her mothers full lips; all were incredibly intelligent (clever they would say) and had inherited the restlessness found in both of their parents. They were happy and extremely close and even the introduction of spouses and children did little to break them apart.

So when Rose Tyler-Noble gave one last tongue-touched grin as she laid in her bed in the room that her and her husband had shared for just over a 102 years, and closed her eyes with an accompanying sigh, it was no surprise when three identical cries sounded by three distraught daughters. Two husbands and a wife gathered them into their arms, tears streaming down every face in the room, with silence except for the sound of sobbing lingering as no one could quite yet put emotions into words. What was a surprise was when a gasp came from the prone figure of the late Rose Tyler-Noble, complemented by a blinding flash of golden light. When the spots cleared from the occupants of the room's eyes, they had to blink again to verify that what they were seeing was in fact real: On the bed where Rose Tyler-Noble had just died of heartache and old age, sat a gasping young 20-something looking girl. Gone was the peaches and cream skin, in its place was cinnamon and clove, short silver hair was now a wavy, deep mahogany brown that curled gently beneath the swell of her breasts. This stranger was still curvy and she had similar full lips, shaped differently but still luscious. However, when she looked up and met the eyes of the gaping occupants of the room, she was a stranger no longer. The same impossibly golden whiskey eyes shared by every female in the Tyler-Noble line gazed around the room, meeting with three identical expressions of shock and amazement. Silence reigned for a heartbeat and then a double heartbeat, and the reborn Rose Tyler spoke her first words in this new body. Looking back she wished that she could have said something brilliant, but regeneration had the habit of striking most clever thoughts out of your mind in favor of stating the obvious, ("Hello! Okay–ooh. New teeth. That's weird.") and so it went, " Well… that was unexpected."

* * *

><p>So, this idea has been floating around in my head for a few days now, and since I don't have finals or papers to write I guess I wrote this instead.<p>

Also, first lines from regeneration on the New Who are great (not counting Tennant's kind of, sort of regeneration):

10- "Hello! Okay–ooh. New teeth. That's weird"

11- "Legs! I've still got legs!"

12- "_Kidneys!_ I've got new kidneys! I don't like the colour."

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, any of the lines that come from DW, or characters, but this was written by my overactive imagination.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor knew the moment that the Meta-crisis died. It was as though a window that had been left open just enough to let in the murmur of noises from outside, but not open enough to really notice, had been slid shut and his mind was just a tiny bit quieter. Had the Time Lords still been around, he never would have detected it, like a whisper in Time Square, but as they were not, the silence echoed around his lonely mind just a bit. He had known that the bond with the Meta-crisis had endured them being in two separate universes for about a century of linear time now. Every once in a long while the connection had widened enough for some strong emotions to slip through, and the part of him that wasn't intolerably jealous or angry was glad to observe that the times of joy that slipped through had far outnumber the times of fear, sadness, or anger. However, that portion of him was considerably smaller than the part that contained the jealousy he felt towards the Meta-crisis for getting to live a lifetime with Rose Tyler, or the part that held the devastation that he had lost her again by a conscious decision on his own making. So those and all emotions towards Rose Tyler had been figuratively boxed away in a special shoe box after his regeneration and put mentally out of sight in a closet where he wouldn't be faced daily with his loss (a trick he had learned from a teen magazine he once read while waiting for Amy). That being said, he didn't much appreciate the Meta-crisis telepathically rubbing it in his face, or mind, that _he_ was Rose Tyler fantastic life and the Doctor was not. The first time it had happened, the Doctor was still in his last regeneration and grieving the loss of Donna and Rose. He had been traveling alone, which had only intensified his anger at the unfairness of the universe and had been in the middle of a disastrous trip to Mars when he had felt it. All around him, death and panic reigned supreme, when blooming out of the back if his conscienceless came the slight petals of joy, love and ecstasy that could only have come from the Meta-crisis during a very specific event. Needless to say the Doctor had not handled it very well, and the Time Lord Victorious had been born.

But now that the inevitable had finally happened, the Doctor felt no sense of relief. As he sat staring at the center console (brooding others would and had called it), he was happy that the Ponds were currently not on board the TARDIS and that his _wife_ hadn't popped in unexpectedly. He now had an opportunity to pull out the box and reminisce on the happy times he had shared with the woman that had saved him and that he could now admit to loving. For the first time he allowed himself to wonder if she was still alive or if she had passed on first, he wondered if she had become a mother, and if she had settled down into domestic life (he doubted it), but mostly he wondered if she had ever thought of him. He couldn't regret taking her back to Pete's Universe and giving her a chance at a normal life, not if she was happy, but he was selfish enough to hope that she had still loved him as the Doctor even after all this time. But he would never know because the Meta-crisis was dead, and so was his last connection to Rose Tyler.

* * *

><p>About a month later there was a vibration along the line that tickled the spot in the Doctor's mind where the bond had been, but because it occurred while he happened to be staring down a one of the Silence, it was stored away deep in his memory and forgotten the moment he turned and looked away.<p>

* * *

><p>For being dead, Rose Tyler sure had a lot to do. After the shock had worn off enough for her mind to start working properly again, at an even higher processing speed than before, Rose was able to catalogue all the changes that had occurred within her body. She filed away the cooler body temperature, increased respiratory ability and bone density, but while this was subconsciously and instantaneously being stored away for further exploration, she focused in on the double heartbeat and all of the implications that came with it. So when the cacophony of voices burst through as the humans in the room moved past their shock, she had a few hypothesis she could share with them. The most probable theory was that when she became Bad Wolf, the TARDIS had seen that she wished to be with the Doctor for as long as his forever would be, not just for hers. However, her human body as it was would not survive a regeneration cycle, but the TARDIS saw every possible timeline and the strongest included Rose Tyler undergoing over a century of slow transformation by the remnants of the time vortex into what was known as human plus, and so, when the moment of death had come about, it was a short gap to close to finish the metamorphosis.<p>

That being said, the next question was what she did now. She had prepared for her death, all the details were sorted, and the only thing that was wanting was the actual body to put in the coffin. Now that that plan had gone all to hell, Rose Tyler, Time Lady, had some options. Only six people plus herself knew the truth of what had happened, and she had undergone such a radical transformation that for all intents and purposes she was dead to everyone else. She could try and prove to everyone she was still alive and still the same person, but that didn't seem like it would lead to pleasant results. She could form a new life under another name, and this way she would be able to be close with her family, but they were already quite advanced along their timelines and would get older and when the six in the room passed on, no one would remain who knew whom she really was. Besides, she didn't want to build a new life, she had just made it to the finish line of her last one and it wasn't like she had made contingency plans for this. The last option was to try and find her way back to the prime universe and the Doctor, who was the reason for the change in the first place. This one seemed the most impossible and had the most unknowns: was the Doctor even alive still or had he burned through his remaining regenerations? Would he still want her by his side or had he moved on? Oddly enough, the idea of getting through to the other universe was of the lowest priority on her worry scale. She had done it once as a human, so advancing the technology that already existed with her new Time Lady brain seemed simple enough, and she wasn't in any rush anyways. First she had a funeral to get through.

In the end she decide on a combination of the making a new life and searching for the Doctor. She kept Rose as her first name, but changed her last to Harkness. Smith had been her first thought, in honor of Mickey and the original Sarah Jane, but it seemed to be a bit presumptuous to take the name of the Doctor's alias when she wasn't even sure of what he wanted, let alone what she did. So she had picked the last name of one of her dearest friends and who was also facing a much longer life than originally planned on. (John had told her all about what had happened on Satellite 5 when it had become apparent that there were some lingering effects). She started working at Torchwood again and at the recommendation of the previous director and board member (Donna), headed a team that focused on inter-dimensional travel. She was introduced as a new alien arrival to Earth that was looking for a way to get home to a parallel world, was given a new identity under the new name and began working to once again cross the void. 20 years passed, and while she barely aged, those around her very noticeably did.

* * *

><p>Donna Susan Noble died on a Thursday afternoon (much to her displeasure) at the ripe old age of 120, beating that pesky average just like her mother. Like her mother and grandfather before her, those who had worked with her at Torchwood and all that who had known her mourned her passing, but none so much as her husband, two sisters and 4 children. Rose Harkness, an old family friend, had been at her side with the aforementioned group of people, when Donna had breathed her last goodbye. But while a chorus of mourning had broken out around her, she merely sat with an expectant look on her still young face. Donna's children merely shrugged it of as an alien thing and in their grief thought no more about the unusual behavior. Only when minutes had turned into an hour, and then another and the body had been taken away to be prepared for cremation, did the face morph into one of sorrow and grim determination. Rose Harkness made her preparations, and Rose Tyler said goodbye to her children one last time. The dimension manipulator had been tested and was ready to be used for its intended purpose. For the safety of the multiverse, she was taking one of two manipulators; the other was to be destroyed upon the death of her last daughter, barring regeneration. That way, if Sarah or Martha did by chance regenerate, they would be able to come search for Rose if they so chose. Mother's duty done, she gave one last look full of love and pride and disappeared from a shoreline about 50 miles outside of Bergen.<p>

* * *

><p>Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, any of the lines that come from DW, or characters, but this was written by my overactive imagination.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

_Mother's duty done, she gave one last look full of love and pride and disappeared from a shoreline about 50 miles outside of Bergen._

And appeared on a shoreline about 50 miles outside of Bergen. She glanced around for any indication that this was not the same beach at the same time, but the only clue was that her daughters no longer remained on the windswept shores. Rose closed her eyes and breathed deeply, memories washing over her like the roar of the waves in her ears. Her new body cataloged the details she never noticed before, like the salt composition in the air, while her mind raced to figure out what had happened. The Dimension Manipulator worked in two parts; first, in order to minimize the chances of the multiverse imploding, it found a moment when the walls were already weak or had gaps. No moment could be used twice to maintain integrity, so if one or both of her daughters followed, they would not use the same moment that Rose had. The next function she had to activate, sent her through the void, with her TARDIS key acting as a homing beacon. This would hopefully put her in a point of the timeline where she could approach the Doctor and if not, hopefully land her somewhere non-hostile.

So Rose twisted the dial to the second setting, ready to continue her journey when she felt the slight displacement of air that made her pause. For the first time she wondered if this moment was one of the few she knew were weak points: There was the first time the TARDIS had fallen through, the Time of the Ghosts, the second time she had come though on the TARDIS with John, and that time about 70 years ago where cracks had appeared and caused all kinds of trouble for a couple of decades. Based on the location, she was more shocked than she probably should have been when the familiar whooshing noise followed the displacement of air, but the brilliant brain was as frozen as her body. Subconsciously she noted that she was out of their line of sight, her mental shields were strong, and that she had no recollection of anyone else being on the beach, but none of that would have mattered as her mother, long deceased, walked out of the TARDIS. If her mother alone had made her hearts stutter, then the sight of her much younger self and the two Doctors made her right heart stop completely, as the left sped up to impossible speeds. She couldn't breathe as she watched her first kiss with her future/late husband and self-preservation caused her to slam her hand down on the switch that had her hurtling through time and space before she could watch the Doctor leave her behind one last time in his TARDIS.

She landed gasping, her respiratory bypass failing as she tried not to crumple to the ground. This was partially due to the fact she had been effectively atomized and put back together, though more of it than she would like to admit was because she was trying and failing to calm her raging emotions. She had cried her tears for all whom she had lost, but the sight of her mother and loves had torn at the barely healed part of her hearts. She succumbed and fell noiselessly forward, not even bothering to catch herself before hitting the dirt and lay floating insensible for a time, everyone she had lost suffocating her with their memories. Her parents, her brother, her children, grandchildren, Mickey, Jake, her Torchwood team, her many friends, the Time-Lord Doctor, but mostly John, were all wretched out and laid bare before her, consolidating all that she had lost and left behind. Seconds or hours passed before footsteps drew her from her memorial, and she rapidly regained her footing and dusted herself off, past emotions locked away to better face what was now in her future.

* * *

><p>The Doctor didn't know what to do. Gallifrey was still missing, the Mistress had lied and he had put his trust in her again like a damned fool. Clara was moving on and he was alone again. He had let the TARDIS chose the destination and began to wander aimlessly towards the nearest village on what looked to be the planet of Vinvangot. The sky was a mint green and he could see some fields with dark purple topsoil growing what looked like a form of golden grain. Workers in the field were darks dots on the landscape, but otherwise he was left with his thoughts, which he did not like. So when he spotted the prone figure on the road before him, he was pleased with the distraction. He was about to call out when the figure sprung up and brushed herself off quickly, turning towards him with a dazzling smile that didn't quite reach her downturned eyes. He unconsciously noted that her clothes matched what was normal for late 21early 22 century on Earth, she looked to be about 22, 160 cm and 50 kilograms. Her voice was clear but rushed when she spoke.

"Manipulators are a God awful way to travel, I highly recommend other methods if you have access to them. But now that I'm here, I might as well explore … town's that way by the look of it. Well I'll be off then, cheers mate." With that pronouncement, she turned and walked briskly towards town, leaving the Doctor's word hanging unspoken.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS was up to something. At first he almost thought it might be a strange coincidence, but that strange girl kept popping up wherever he traveled too. She first surprised him on Donatello 54, where she had run past him while being chased by the local police. (He saw her problem immediately: she had forgotten to remove her shoes after leaving the paved area.) She had then appeared again on Techbe Anjen 10, had grabbed an apple out of his hand and lobbed it at a man who had stolen a woman's purse, successfully causing him to stumble and be captured. She was there on Kar-Kay, Sgnikiv, Chur Prime, and Tschu as well, sometimes interacting with him, but mostly not, and never saying anything to him. That didn't occur again until he decided to visit Hoch Strand 12^ where the beaches have orange sand and red water. He was planning on forgetting the mystery woman and enjoying his day as much as possible, so, donning a swimming costume (think 1920's), he headed to treat himself to a banana daiquiri at a quaint little shore side stand. As he approached, the woman who had just received her drink turned with a bright yellow concoction in her hand. She smiled her dazzling smile, and he saw for the first time the brilliant gold of her eyes as she preceded to hand him her drinks, before sauntering off. It was her parting words that made him really suspicious that something wicked was afoot, because they echoed one his own words and beliefs, and made it clear that this woman knew much more about him then she had let on.<p>

"It's a banana daiquiri, try it. Banana's are the best fruit in the world, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and never trust pears."

* * *

><p>Rose was out to have a good time. After gathering her bearings on Vinvangot, and finding out that there wasn't much going on there except for that the entire planet was designed to replicate various Van Gogh paintings (she was extremely impressed that they got the sky to mimic Van Gogh's Starry Night) she decided that finding the Doctor could wait. John had spent about a century telling her about various planets and times and now that she had the means to travel again, she felt as if she deserved to go and visit everywhere she had heard about. Now that the first two utilities of the Dimension Manipulator were nonfunctioning, it served as a type of vortex manipulator, allowing Rose to travel a good chunk of time and space. She hadn't been lying to that man on Vinvangot though; manipulators were a nasty way to travel, and so she usually waited between a day to a few weeks before moving on from a place. (Except for on Donatello 54 where she had needed to make a quick escape, John had forgotten to mention the shoes thing.) She did her best to help out of there were problems, but otherwise just simply enjoyed getting to know the cultures, something she had not done with the Doctor. She was beginning to have suspicions however; the same man she had encountered on Vinvangot had turned up on seven separate planets now. He was either tracking her for some nefarious means or, and this theory was slowly growing stronger, the TARDIS had found her and this was the latest regeneration of the Doctor. This was something she could test and hopefully stay anonymous, so when the Stranger materialized again on Hoch Strand 12^ (in a frankly hilarious bathing costume), she had bought the Doctor's favorite drink across two regenerations and presented it to him, and then had hid and watched his reaction. He was confused, then appropriately suspicious, then resigned, and finally delighted when he sipped the fruity concoction. When she saw him settle into a beach chair and pull out what looked to be a quantum physics book, she went to work looking for the TARDIS. She let down her mental shields and immediately felt the familiar tingle of the TARDIS song that filled a part of her mind and felt like a warm hug. As a human, even with enhanced telepathic and empathetic abilities, she had never before felt the dull ache that came from not having or losing a bond. The loss of the bond she did have with John had been masked by the grief she had felt at his death, but that was nothing to when she had left Pete's universe and had lost the link between her daughters. So she had kept her walls strong and had through a conscious effort blocked any potential mental connections, but now that they were down it felt as if she had taken a deep breath after holding her self underwater.<p>

The TARDIS must have felt her, because immediately the warm hum swelled to become a full song beckoning her home, it sent her a flurry of images to express her excitement, joy, and location, urging her to come quickly. Rose also received a feeling of irritability and "about time" that confirmed that the TARDIS had been bringing the Doctor to wherever Rose had decided to travel. As Rose made her way towards the waiting space and time ship, she sent back an apology for have kept her waiting, but and explanation that she had needed some time to adjust. The TARDIS answered just as it entered her line of sight, a darker blue and less weather-beaten than she had known it previously. Her step quickened and soon she was fishing her key from the necklace that had never left its spot of honor and feeling the smooth wood of the door beneath her hands. The key was barely in the lock before the door had sprung open, revealing the redesigned interior as well; gone was the coral and in its place was polished metal. The center console pulsed with joy and tears brimmed golden eyes. Tears that made it slightly blurry when the door snapped open behind her.

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><p>Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, any of the lines that come from DW, or characters, but this was written by my overactive imagination.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

The reunion went as well as could be expected when the Doctor stormed into the TARDIS to find his trans-temporal stalker crying all over the center console. He had felt her mental presence reaching for the TARDIS the second she had let her mental guards down, had dropped his drink (he frowned at that, potentially poisoned or not, it had been really good), pulled on his trousers and coat and raced towards the unoccupied TARDIS, convinced that she had pulled something underhanded to get to his precious time and space ship. How had she even gotten in? Upon alighting the ramp, he had stormed forward, eyebrows flashing as she had pressed herself into the rough buttons and levers. She seemed torn between being terrified of the lurking figure now towering over her and wanting to laugh from the sheer joy that seeing his "Oncoming Storm" face brought, because that if nothing else is what really solidified that the Doctor was here in front of her. Golden eyes met a piercing blue that reminded her of her first Doctor.

"Who are you?"

And there it was, the first question, the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Instead of speaking, she simply turned around and picked up the quill like pen that the TARDIS had prepared for her upon a mental request. Finding a smooth spot on the shiny and oddly matching console, she drew first one circle, then another, both filled with indentations and lines and interlocking circles. Her pen strokes were smooth across the thick stationary, confident and obviously well practiced. The Doctor moved forward, looking over the smooth, cocoa colored shoulder clad in the strap of a pale yellow sundress, and promptly froze, eyes wide and mouth gaping at what lay before him. Two words he never though he would read again, written in a dead language spoken by no one but himself. Not a name, but a title.

_Bad Wolf _

But that was impossible. His attention fixated on the now fidgeting brunette, and his weathered hands forced her head up so their eyes could meet, ignoring her "Oi!" of protest. What he saw made his hearts stutter, her eyes were not merely oddly colored. They were much too old for her apparent youth, and seemed to glow with an inner light that was more commonly seen in… temporal… energy.

"Rose?" It was softly spoken, even in his slightly harsh accent, equal parts unbelieving and hopeful. She nodded, and he spoke her name again, this time louder and borderline manic. His hands roved over her hair, her face, her shoulders, taking comfort in their solidity, as his subconscious catalogued the differences in appearance. "But that's…"

She cut him off with a glare that was so familiar on this stranger's face. "If you say impossible, I'll slap you so hard you'll regenerate."

And with that he broke his rules and pulled her in for crushing hug, if only so she couldn't see his tears.

"Besides," he heard her voice crack, "the only impossible thing in our lives would be you paying me that ten quid you still owe me."

* * *

><p>They ended up in the library, which had been rearranged by the TARDIS to match the early days of their traveling together. They talked about the dimension manipulator, she told him about her work, he told her about Mickey and Martha, Donna's wedding, Clara and Danny, the Ponds, and finally about River Song. They talked about marriage, she laughed that he couldn't even do that normally, he was proud that she had name her daughters after three brilliant women. They shared a moment of comfortable silence after telling each other about the people they had loved, reminiscing. The hours stretched on and were filled with laughter as they exchange story after story about the mishaps and adventures they had throughout their time apart, and while neither of them grew tired, tea and biscuits and other food and drink items appeared at random and kept them going.<p>

Finally a lull in the talking occurred and they just sat there, cataloging the differences in one another over a cup of tea. It could have been awkward, it should have been awkward, but it wasn't. There was probably no one else in the multiverse that understood either the Doctor or Rose Tyler better than those two relaxing over tea in the TARDIS library.

* * *

><p>It was the next evening on Hoch Strand 12^, and the fading sunshine found our Time Lord and Lady talking over chips and Banana Daiquiris about how odd of experience it had been for Rose to become fully comfortable with all the abilities of a Time Lady. It was only as they were finishing the last dredges if their favorite beverage that the noticed that the beach had all but emptied, and a nervous energy fell upon the pair like the now cool air around them. Some fidgeting and finally "And what about you? What are you going to do next?"<p>

Almost a century and a half late and Rose recognized the words immediately. "Well, back to traveling. Same old life.

"On your own?" (Uncertainly covered carefully by careless questioning and avoiding eye contact.)

"Well, unless you want me to come along?" (Hope hidden by indifference.)

"Well yes." (Forced surprise at the question.)

"Do you though?" (Layered with meaning.)

"Yes." (No hesitation, simply honesty.)

"I just thought, because I changed." (Because I'm not your pink and yellow human anymore)

"I just thought, because _I_ changed you might not want me anymore." (Because I'm an old, cranky man again)

"Oh, of course I'd love to come along!" (Matched with a wide smile)

"Well then Rose Tyler, all of Time and Space, where would you like to begin?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Years later…<strong>_

Rose Tyler glared at the glowing form of her husband, arms crossed as she sat back on the jump seat, far enough back not to catch the residual energy and prompt a regeneration of her own. She was pouting and she knew it, but he was a git. She had liked the silver fox look, and if he hadn't jumped in front of that errant blast, had just pulled her out of the way, he wouldn't be regenerating. She knew that he was more uncomfortable than she had been at the perceived age difference; the questioning and sometimes judgmental glances, barely concealed invitations that she could do better from strangers, the occasional father/grandfather comment. So really, it was no surprise that he had literally jumped at the chance to change his appearance to someone "better suited" to Rose, he had done it before.

Over 200 years of traveling together and 166 years of marriage and he was still making decisions for her.

They had taken it slow, three decades passing before they had even kissed. (Acts of necessity aside.) But once they had crossed that line, the walls between them had tumbled down fast enough to leave their world spinning. They had had their bonding ceremony in the heart of the Rose Nebula, presided over by one Captain Jack Harkness. Rose had persuaded the TARDIS into finding their immortal best friend one "morning" while the Doctor had showered, and after a frankly riotous reunion including mistaken identity, the Doctor in a nothing but a towel and several innuendos later, it was decided (grudgingly on the part of the Doctor, who was enjoying having Rose Tyler in all her glory to himself) that Jack would travel with them for a bit. And so he did, and they went on causing trouble across the universe, just like old times. He had decided not to stay in the TARDIS after the bonding ceremony, but they made a point to meet up every so often.

Ultimately the golden light died down enough so Rose could her first look at the Doctor's newest incarnation and she promptly burst out laughing so hard, her respiratory bypass had to kick in.

"What?!" She heard the Doctor ask her, alarmed by her response, followed by an enlightened "oohhhh."

Rose composed herself enough to look up at the tall, dark skinned _**woman**_ that stood where an old, Scottish man stood only moments before, and slid off the jump seat. She sauntered up to the stunned newly formed Time Lady, a wolfish smile gracing her features as she smoothed the lapels of the oversized coats.

The Doctor flashed a dazzling and sheepish smile down at her ladylove, "it was bound to happen eventually?" Questioning at the end, gauging Rose's reaction.

Rose simply pulled her down by the lapels and snogged her good and thorough, before they broke away resting foreheads against one other's. With a smile on her lips, Rose let the now familiar Gallifreyen name slip through her lips, followed by "well I guess it's good that I'm already pregnant, or we would have had to wait a few centuries before we got might have gotten the opportunity again."

A shared thought passed through their bond at the tickle of the forming third mind brushing against their awareness, because does _I Love You_ really need saying?

* * *

><p>Finished! This chapter was being especially uncooperative and kept trying to go 10 different directions. I also kind of hate dialog and avoid it if you hadn't noticed. But I love where it ended up, and considering that this entire story was written as I went and not planned in advance, I'm very happy and surprised by my ending. I've went back and edited the other chapters, so hopefully they're nice and polished now and I'm also sketching some artwork to go along with the story. Thanks for reading everyone!<p>

Thank you everyone who reviewed/ will review and special shout out to MirrorFlower and DarkWind who reviewed every chapter and really made me want to keep writing this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, any of the lines that come from DW, or characters, but this was written by my overactive imagination.


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